Rep. Raskin says Musk 'crossed the line' with $1 million giveaway to registered voters
'I don't think you can take a million dollars and say everybody come and sign my petition, but you got to register to vote first. And as long as you register to vote, then you will be entered into a drawing where you could win a million dollars,' he added.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said on Wednesday that he hopes law enforcement will look into Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk giving away $1 million each day through America PAC to registered voters who sign a petition.
"We still at least nominally have laws against bribery and you're not allowed to bribe people to vote, you're not allowed to bribe people to register to vote. And so I think that Elon Musk has crossed the line here, and I hope that people will begin to blow the whistle on that and that people in law enforcement will check it out," Raskin said on Dean Obeidallah’s SiriusXM program Tuesday night.
"But I don't think you can take a million dollars and say everybody come and sign my petition, but you got to register to vote first. And as long as you register to vote, then you will be entered into a drawing where you could win a million dollars," he added.
The Department of Justice has reportedly warned Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk that $1 million prize giveaway for registered voters who sign a petition might be illegal.
Musk held a series of town hall meetings throughout the battleground state of Pennsylvania last week for registered voters who sign a petition in support of the First and Second Amendment. Voters in select swing states can sign the petition online.
Musk began giving out $1 million per day to one signer of the petition starting on Saturday in Harrisburg, Pa.
In response to those raising legal questions, such as Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., Musk said the winner of the $1 million “can be from any or no political party and you don’t even have to vote.”